Alabama House panel: We should have been told about drugs

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Members of a panel of legislators who supervise administrative activities in the Alabama House say they should have been notified when two pounds of marijuana were found in a Statehouse office in December, 2006.

The panel known as the House Council agreed during a Wednesday evening meeting that in the future House Clerk Greg Pappas should notify the chairman of the council about such incidents. House Speaker Pro Tem Demetrius Newton of Birmingham is the current council chairman.

"I hope we have all learned we need to change policies to make sure this doesn't happen again," House Speaker Seth Hammett told council members.

Several members of the House requested the council meeting after it was revealed that in 2006 two pounds of marijuana were found in the office of a former representative who was cleaning out his office after resigning from the House. House chief sergeant of arms Derek Hamilton told the council that he studied security camera footage and discovered that the backpack containing the drugs was left in the office by Lorenze Hooks, a custodian in the House at the time.

Hamilton said the case was turned over to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, but no charges were filed in connection with the drugs.

Hooks was suspended in 2008 because of another incident and lost his job in March after the disclosure that marijuana was found in his backpack. Hooks, who denied the marijuana belonged to him, is now being held in the Montgomery County Detention Facility on an unrelated charge of trafficking crack cocaine.

Council members asked Pappas why he did not immediately notify Hammett, the council or other House leaders about the incident and why he did not take disciplinary action against Hooks. Pappas said he handled it as an internal administrative issue.

"If he had been charged he'd have been out of here," Pappas said. "I didn't do anything to cover anything up."

Hammett also expressed concern that Pappas donated unused leave time to allow Hooks to stay on the payroll after he was suspended when he was accused in a shooting last year.

"You are my friend, but you made a mistake when you did that," Hammett said. Pappas acknowledged he should not have donated the leave time to Hooks.

Don Ladner, administrative assistant to Pappas, told committee members what happened when the drugs were originally brought to his office in 2006 by security officers.

"They threw it on my desk," Ladner said. He said there was at first debate over whether the substance was marijuana or perhaps part of a floral arrangement. When he realized it was marijuana "I said, 'Take it off of my desk.'"